[Viber]

KZ was kind of secretive about the BAs in the ZSR. They never specifically came out and said what they were.



With that said, I don’t think it uses 2x30095 in the nozzle. Otherwise, it would have the HUGE 10k spike the same as the ZS5 v2 and ZS6 v1 (which DID have 2x30095 in the nozzle).

Here’s the FR graph from KZ for the ZSR (although I don’t know how accurate it is):

Have you tried the AS06?
I'm curious which one wins because its a similar config minus the dynamic driver which is replaced by a BA driver.

 

[Unolord]

my KZ S2 is horrible at calls - the mic keeps getting dropped, and i have people pinging me on chat telling me that they can't hear me.
This is pretty sad. All the more surprising when the $10 KZ Aptx bluetooth cable has amazingly good sound, and sounds better than a lot of branded headphones
and they are now on sale on ali for much cheaper than I paid on indiegogo - makes me feel stupid for buying from there - never again!

Yeah I knew up front when I ordered my pair from Indiegogo that the call quality was trash.

I def won't be buying anything from Indie, Kickstarter or Drop again. I've had issues with all three relating to shipping and then throw in the ability to get the same products cheaper on AExpress it makes them pointless. Throw in the insane Covid related shipping times and there's more reasons to skip spending or hope Amazon has it for a reasonable price. I got the CVJ CSA cheaper on Amazon.ca than the AE lowest price and Prime 2 day shipping.

Still waiting on a few AE orders:
TRN cable that I ordered April 30th. As of the last tracking info on May 13th - International item has left originating country and is en route to Canada.
KBKEar cable from May 1st. June 18th - Hand over to airline

 

[Slater]

Have you tried the AS06?
I'm curious which one wins because its a similar config minus the dynamic driver which is replaced by a BA driver.

Nope, never heard the AS06. Was that one of the ‘exposed circuit board’ models?

 

[DynamicEars]

Nope, never heard the AS06. Was that one of the ‘exposed circuit board’ models?

The one that came out after AS10, few model ahead original ZS10 not Pro ones. Quite sometime ago. Yes exposed circuit board

 

[purplesun]

Have you tried the AS06?
I'm curious which one wins because its a similar config minus the dynamic driver which is replaced by a BA driver.

Nope, never heard the AS06. Was that one of the ‘exposed circuit board’ models?

Same era as AS10. I like it for electronic compositions. When driven well, it has strong & agile bass response, decent non-sibliant treble for my treble-sensitive ears. But it has big frequency response valley somewhere in the mids which affect accuracy of acoustic instruments and voices. Good sound isolation.

Sorry, I have not used ZSR to comment on it.

 

[axhng]

Just took these out of the box. Super excited to try them out.

 

[axhng]

hot take on the ZST X after about an hour or so of listening. it's a more refined/improved sounding version of the Z1. From the tracks that I've gone through and compared side by side...

ZST X still has that punchy sub bass that reaches deep, but Z1 feels like it's rumbling more and pushing out a bit more air. So bass on the ZST X sounds more controlled. maybe because the BA driver is right at the nozzle which blocks out some air. Actually works to its advantage since some folks might not like the level of bass on the Z1. For me I'm fine with the Z1's bass because I mostly use it while jogging or while walking around, so that extra punch works great in those situations. Home listening will prefer the tamer ZST X for sure.

Mids sounds a bit fuller to me, and darker male vocals seems to have a bit more weight to them compared to the Z1. Upper mids was the surprise for me here because it sounds a bit less elevated compared to the Z1? Brighter vocals like from female jpop songs sounds a little less intense. I personally find the upper mids on the Z1 just about on the teetering edge of being too shouty for my own taste, so the ZST X is like one notch down from that, but if possible I personally would kinda like something inbetween the 2 actually. lol.

Treble is better extended as expected, which has a nice effect on brighter vocals too making them sound a bit airier and more natural i think. I was a little afraid it would be like the KZ S2 and sound a bit sibilant, but thankfully that's not the case at all. The song that usually stand out for me is Rei Yasuda's Kimi no Uta. her airy vocals plus the Japanese language's generous use of S and Ts makes it easy to hear for those thing, and it sounds completely fine on the ZST X. I don't hear any odd timbre as well in songs like Depapepe's ii-hi dattane (acoustic guitar), or Itzhak Perlman's Theme from Schindler's List (violin).

Overall tonality i think is real nice and relatively smooth sounding. Very enjoyable set of IEMs to listen to. Details retrieval is maybe a bit better than on the Z1, but still isn't particular amazing, but soundstage and separation are a small step up from the Z1. Sound wise definitely an improvement overall, and at the price i paid which is about 12USD (local online shopping site had some discount mechanism), i think it's a steal. With this around, I think there is pretty much no reason to go for the ZSN Pros anymore. And for those who don't need to use it for sports and just want something wireless, pairing it with a bluetooth cable could be an option too.

 

[Keputs]

Just want to make sure I hear them damn clickers clearly!

 

[TheVortex]

Just want to make sure I hear them damn clickers clearly!

Which cable is that?

 

[Miyanovic]

hot take on the ZST X after about an hour or so of listening. it's a more refined/improved sounding version of the Z1. From the tracks that I've gone through and compared side by side...

ZST X still has that punchy sub bass that reaches deep, but Z1 feels like it's rumbling more and pushing out a bit more air. So bass on the ZST X sounds more controlled. maybe because the BA driver is right at the nozzle which blocks out some air. Actually works to its advantage since some folks might not like the level of bass on the Z1. For me I'm fine with the Z1's bass because I mostly use it while jogging or while walking around, so that extra punch works great in those situations. Home listening will prefer the tamer ZST X for sure.

Mids sounds a bit fuller to me, and darker male vocals seems to have a bit more weight to them compared to the Z1. Upper mids was the surprise for me here because it sounds a bit less elevated compared to the Z1? Brighter vocals like from female jpop songs sounds a little less intense. I personally find the upper mids on the Z1 just about on the teetering edge of being too shouty for my own taste, so the ZST X is like one notch down from that, but if possible I personally would kinda like something inbetween the 2 actually. lol.

Treble is better extended as expected, which has a nice effect on brighter vocals too making them sound a bit airier and more natural i think. I was a little afraid it would be like the KZ S2 and sound a bit sibilant, but thankfully that's not the case at all. The song that usually stand out for me is Rei Yasuda's Kimi no Uta. her airy vocals plus the Japanese language's generous use of S and Ts makes it easy to hear for those thing, and it sounds completely fine on the ZST X. I don't hear any odd timbre as well in songs like Depapepe's ii-hi dattane (acoustic guitar), or Itzhak Perlman's Theme from Schindler's List (violin).

Overall tonality i think is real nice and relatively smooth sounding. Very enjoyable set of IEMs to listen to. Details retrieval is maybe a bit better than on the Z1, but still isn't particular amazing, but soundstage and separation are a small step up from the Z1. Sound wise definitely an improvement overall, and at the price i paid which is about 12USD (local online shopping site had some discount mechanism), i think it's a steal. With this around, I think there is pretty much no reason to go for the ZSN Pros anymore. And for those who don't need to use it for sports and just want something wireless, pairing it with a bluetooth cable could be an option too.

It seems that it is not very similar to the ZST and ZST Pro. It also seems that they may be the most neutral KZ so far. I wonder what the response curve will look like.

 

[Slater]

Got a vintage KZ ED10 from a fellow HeadFier today. I’ve been looking for them for years now.

While the ED10’s W-shaped tuning isn’t really my cup of tea, it is absolutely unbelievable how far KZ has come since these came out in 2015.

Listening to these compared to the current stuff KZ puts out is night and day. Not even in the same league. Everything about them has been continuously improved. Driver technology, sound quality, competency of tuning, accessories, cable, build quality, fit, finish.

Anyways, some people like to knock on KZ, but this hobby would not be where it is today if not for them. They gave us a lot of good products at very affordable prices, and helped release the strangle hold that the overpriced western companies had on us for decades.

I have no problem continuing to support KZ with my money from time to time. As long as they have a reason to stay in the game (sales/profit), they will keep moving forwards (which benefits all of us).

 

[Keputs]

Which cable is that?

It's just a KZ gold silver mixed cable 200 core upgrade. Well, that's how it was described by the online store. But definitely better than the stock cable.

 

[IEMusic]

Got a vintage KZ ED10 from a fellow HeadFier today. I’ve been looking for them for years now.

While the ED10’s W-shaped tuning isn’t really my cup of tea, it is absolutely unbelievable how far KZ has come since these came out in 2015.

Listening to these compared to the current stuff KZ puts out is night and day. Not even in the same league. Everything about them has been continuously improved. Driver technology, sound quality, competency of tuning, accessories, cable, build quality, fit, finish.

Anyways, some people like to knock on KZ, but this hobby would not be where it is today if not for them. They gave us a lot of good products at very affordable prices, and helped release the strangle hold that the overpriced western companies had on us for decades.

I have no problem continuing to support KZ with my money from time to time. As long as they have a reason to stay in the game (sales/profit), they will keep moving forwards (which benefits all of us).

I think they especially jump started hybrid IEMs, both in the budget realm, and as a whole.

 

[RikudouGoku]

Is the ZST more popular/famous than the ZSN? Why did they update the ZST instead of the ZSN (referring to the ZSTX)?

 

[Slater]

Is the ZST more popular/famous than the ZSN? Why did they update the ZST instead of the ZSN (referring to the ZSTX)?

They did update the ZSN.

And the ZST was their very first hybrid, so it’s kinda special to KZ. That’s why they made the special editions faceplates.